Saturday, January 5, 2013

Tool #10 - Underneath it All - Digital Citizenship

Technology is an amazing thing, but it also has many pitfalls. Anyone can put things on the internet and it is fairly easy to make them look legitimate. It is important for the students to understand what a reliable source is and isn't. Not only is it easy to end with the wrong information because it is easy to find, but it is also easy for people to take advantage of others online. We as adults believe so much of what we see online because it is there in writing, so I have to remember the students are even more vulnerable. I want my students to remember to always keep their guards up. I also want my students to remember to give credit where credit is due. When I was in elementary the only research I did was in a library and it was easier for teachers to make sure students where following guidelines related to plagiarism. When there are so many available resources it is more difficult for teachers to monitor and to teach the correct ways for students to use the information.

Before assigning my next science research project I will do a mini lesson related to digital citizenship. I liked many of the videos I found on brainpop and will probably use one of them along with a classroom discussion based on the research and resources we are using. To keep parents in the loop I will include a few digital citizenship guidelines on the rubric for the project.

1 comment:

  1. There are some game type websites that can also help you review digital safety that I can share with you. Using the databases that the district provides can also help limit the chance that they might encounter something that they shouldn't.

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